Indeed, this leads onto the main problem with Mercenaries. After a few hours, it does begin to lose its way. You’ll find you have more than enough money, so there’s little incentive to do the slightly pedantic bonus missions, such as bring in a captive alive rather than dead. And without sufficient self-discipline to make yourself complete each mission in the ‘coolest’ way possible, things begin to wear thin. You may tire of driving back and forth through the samey, fog clad environment; and like San Andreas, when you find yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere with no vehicle, the arduous walks back to the excitement can get a bit much.

But all-in-all, we’re extremely impressed with Mercenaries. The graphics are excellent, and although there is a lot of fog and smoke, that could certainly be construed as atmospheric in this particular instance. Technically, it’s comfortably ensconced on the top tier of Xbox releases and although dogged by dodgier frame rates, the PS2 version is also pretty impressive. At its core, the action is relentless, and thanks to the sheer scale and ferocity of the continuous explosions, it’s all extremely satisfying for those with a penchant for large-scale destruction. All this is packed into a chaotic, destructible world that is fundamentally fear-inducing; and that works for us… on many levels.

SPOnG Rating: A-

If the notion of free-roaming in a war zone appeals to you, then so will Mercenaries. Although its open-plan nature might lead to less pro-active gamers getting bored, if you’re willing to push at all the doors and use a little imagination it is fairly epic entertainment. There’s no on-line and no multi-player options, but the single-player experience should last well over 20 hours (with room for re-play). Casuals, sociopaths and psychopaths will love it; but perhaps the connoisseur would be best advised to give it a rent; after all, nothing’s perfect.